My Online Journal of Adventures and Misadventures

backyard birding

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve gone out to bird. When I start a new work week, I usually have a plan to go birding in the coming weekend. But recently I’ve been too tired and lazy to get up at 5AM on a Saturday or Sunday and instead reach out for a book upon waking and just read in bed til breakfast time. Mind you, I do wake up at around 5am, birding or no birding!

My binoculars have been calling out to me from my birding bag, desperate to be used in the field, but there is always something more pressing to do! So I end up apologizing to my bins and bring out my laptop instead and sit to work on lesson plans, practice quizzes, and what-not. I could feel for a parent saying no to a child who wants to go out and play because there is work that needs to be done, “Sorry honey, not today. Mommy’s busy.”

Thank goodness for a pair of hungry Olive-backed Sunbirds who cannot seem to resist the ornamental banana bloom right in our pocket garden at home! I am able to get a minimal dose of birdwatching while in the middle of lesson planning!

My Saturday morning workstation with the banana plant and sunbird right in front of me =)

The plant was a gift from my good friends Adri and Trinket whose own ornamental banana plant attracts their own share of Sunbirds in their home. It has been steadily sprouting out younger plants and blooms have been growing regularly. We would hear the sunbirds arrive and sometimes see them feed whenever there is a flower. This time, the bloom grew tall enough for really good views!

Thank you again, Adri and Trinket for giving me this plant =)

We usually hear the bird chirping and calling from a higher perch, signalling its approach. Then it would fly closer and land on a hanging wire before perching on the bloom to feed.

This is the female Olive-backed Sunbird on the wire

Male Olive-backed Sunbird landing on the bloom

Feeding on the ornamental banana bloom

They seem to love it!

The birds even had my mom and sister on “birding mode”! My mom stalks it with her phone camera and she managed to get a video of it feeding! I left my camera with my sister once and she did get a shot of it perched on top of the bloom!

This is my sister Nicole’s photo. Do you see the sunbird atop the bloom?

I’m really grateful to live in a quieter patch of Quezon City where I can sit and hear at least five different species of birds in one morning. I think it’s great that, even while sitting at home, I can get that rush and excitement you feel when a bird arrives and you are ready with your binoculars and camera (and yes, ready to ditch the work I’m supposed to be doing in the first place.) Of course, the birds I see are the usual urban species, but for now, they are more than welcome as my birding fix.

Need to get a better shot, but I am happy with this one already =)

UPDATE: The banana blossom peeled off another layer and made for a better angle the following day. I was lucky enough to see both the male and female Olive-backed Sunbirds feeding and snap some photos of them.